


The Color Gold

by Tsukino_Akume



Series: Ruigi [3]
Category: Power Rangers Samurai
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 04:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2679485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsukino_Akume/pseuds/Tsukino_Akume
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Held captive by Eyescar, Ji attempts to make amends with Antonio for the past, and Antonio worries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Color Gold

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer/:** Antonio and Jayden aren't married in canon (that we know of), therefore it isn't mine.  
>  **Warnings/:** Angst. Potential spoilers for Changing Tactics  
>  **Author's Notes/:** More than a drabble, not really a chapter? Posting it separately from Changing Tactics because while it occurs between chapter 35 and 36, it really doesn't fit in the story itself.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE THE POTENTIAL SPOILER WARNING. I don't usually give spoiler warnings, but this has some hinting that could somewhat be considered a spoiler. If that's not your cup of tea, you may want to skip this until Changing Tactics is finished.

"Don't worry!" Ji murmured from the other side of the pole they'd been strapped to. "We just have to keep faith that the team will find us."

Antonio laughed a little. "We don't need faith." He glanced backward, even though he couldn't exactly see Ji. "Remember my fishing spool? I 'accidentally' dropped it. The team will find it." 

_It's not the rescue I'm worried about,_ he added silently, frowning up at the sky. _It's how long it's going to take them to find us, and the toll it's going to take on Jayden until they do._

He closed his eyes, letting his head fall back. _And how hard it's going to be to convince him that it's not his fault._

It wasn't that he couldn't understand the reason. When you laid it all out in a line, Jayden's life was a terrible series of loss and tragedy: his family history, being sent away, his biological father, Toshizo, Aunt Trini, almost his dad, *really* almost Dad and the sibs, all the drama that had come with building an S.P.D. base on Earth, the Morpher Accident ... And even just last December, when Bridge was born. When you looked at it all at once, it was overwhelming how much loss seemed to follow his husband. 

Which was why he could understand how Jayden could believe that he was cursed. That didn't make it any easier to fight him on it. It *definitely* didn't lessen his own determination to prove to Jayden that he was wrong by staying at his side just as he'd promised, forever and ever. 

Ji chuckled faintly. "This time you've surprised even me, Antonio." 

He wondered at that. He knew Ji didn't like him; he even suspected he knew why. It had to be hard for a family seeped in tradition and family heritage to accept that their only male heir is gay, let alone already married. And on top of that, Antonio had no qualms about being entirely himself in the face of Ji's traditions. He had spent his life training to be a Samurai, sure; he had also spent his life reminding Jayden to live. He couldn't continue to do so if he was kowtowing to someone else's rules. 

And Ji seemed to have a thing about people who were purposely being obnoxious. He'd seen it with Mike, who clearly didn't care. But then he also seemed to give Mike a lot more leeway with it than he did Antonio. Maybe it had to do with being a 'real' Samurai, or at least born into the bloodline of one. 

_... And *that* was bitter. The concussion must be getting to me._

"You know ... when you first came here, I thought you were trouble." 

_Figures._

"Jayden's father was my best friend. When I saw the son of the honorable man whose friendship I cherished with someone who seemed to take the world so lightly ... I became afraid that Jayden had chosen you to bring you along with him out of loyalty for standing beside him so long, rather than skill. You seemed to treat becoming a Ranger as a childhood dream become reality, without the understanding of its importance and heritage that comes as a member of one of the five Samurai families. I believed that whatever Jayden may have taught you was out of loneliness, and that is what led you to creating a morpher of your own." 

Ji paused. "Had I had the opportunity in the beginning, I would have taken that morpher from you," he admitted. "I would have given it to Lauren, to allow her to remain on the team as Jayden became the Red Ranger." 

Antonio stilled, fighting to control the surge of anger that raced through him at the thought of Ji so casually thinking he could just take his morpher away. The morpher that he had _earned_ , had bled and fought for, built with his own two hands. Team mentor or not, to take another Ranger's morpher without any right to it ... 

He would have called S.P.D. and put Ji up on charges. He'd have had to, considering all that his morpher would have given its user access to. And Jayden would have walked away from them all, because he would never fight for a team that would sink so low. 

It was a sobering thought. 

"But I'm glad to say ... I was wrong." 

He blinked. _Huh?_ " ... You are?" 

"Yes. You deserve your spot on the team." Ji paused. "And with Jayden," he added more quietly. 

Antonio stared at the army of Moogers crowding the valley, trying to process that. _Do you mean it?_ he wanted to ask, because even if he and Jayden had been wary of him, Ji was still important to Lauren. "What made you change your mind?" 

Ji was silent for a moment. "Small things," he said at last. "The look on his face as he watches you from across the room. That you know he is watching. You lean into each other when you sit. The way you fight together speaks of absolute trust." He chuckled softly. "And even when you disagree, you stand in solidarity against the world. Few couples can say the same." 

He could think of quite a few, actually. 

"I'm glad that Jayden has you to stand beside him and put him first before the rest of the world. Even when he cannot do the same." 

A chill ran down Antonio's spine. " ... Ji?" he breathed, to low for anyone else to hear. "What - " He faltered, trying to grasp for a phrasing that wouldn't spill absolutely everything, but _he had to know_. 

_What do you know about the sealing symbol?_

"He'll need your strength when this battle ends, to help him recover." 

Antonio closed his eyes, leaning his head back again. 'Recover' he mouthed to himself, shoulders shaking as he struggled between laughing and crying. "Thanks, Ji," he said finally. "That means a lot." 

It was good, he told himself. Ji didn't know, and that meant there was one less person who expected Jayden to 'do his duty’ as a member of the Shiba family. One less person who thought Jayden was expendable. 

Which made him still the only other person who knew the truth. 

"Thank you, Antonio. You are truly worth your weight in - " 

"In Gold?" he suggested with a wry, bitter smile. 

Ji chuckled again. "Sure." 

_Jayden would have made a great Gold Ranger_ , he thought idly as he stared at the sky and tried not to calculate how long they'd been apart again. _He always was a protector._

Even if he hadn't chosen to be.

**Author's Note:**

> In my (constantly being revised) Morphin Grid Color Theory, Gold is the Color of the Guardian. With credit to Guardian of Hope, who convinced me that was the best way to summarize it. ♥


End file.
